The Idea of a "Smart City" in India

Introduction

The Indian government has envisioned setting up hundred smart cities across the nation. A 'smart city' is expected to incorporate basic infrastructure, smart solutions to make the same better, and it relies on area based development. The smart city should aim to provide basic infrastructure, sustainable and clean environment, quality of life, etc. One of the smart solutions listed to incorporate 'intelligent traffic management' (Pune Municipal Corporation, n.d.). The growing prosperity India has been witnessing is coupled with the emergence in the need and importance of traffic management and road accidents. With the rapid increase in the volume of cars and the soaring population, road traffic management has become a major challenge for the authorities (Amit, 2013).

Citizens in metropolitan cities are affected by traffic congestion, bottlenecks at the junctions, indiscipline and callousness on the roads that cause accidents, perilous atmosphere to commute in. The city of Pune is an excellent example that demonstrates these facts (Supekar, 2008). Drunken driving is a major source of road accidents. Statistics show that most road accidents on highways are due to drunken driving. The youth plays a major role in such accidents. Strict laws are a must in order to control drunken driving. Driver fatigue is another reason for road accidents. Drunken driving poses a threat even to other's life and is immoral on many levels (Gopalakrishnan, 2012). Most countries have a multi-disciplinary approach to traffic management and road layouts. Pune suffers not only from narrow roads but also road without pavements or footpaths for pedestrians. Most area-located roads ofPune are extremely narrow and to add to it, it's a two­way commute, making it prone to accidents. Stricter traffic laws and systems would help Pune control the damage to be caused.

This issue is a major concern for the authorities of Pune to look into so that it fulfills the criterion of being a smart city and to develop in that process. Much to our dismay, it looks like Pune has a long way to go to achieve this. 11 Chapter 3 Review of Literature Traffic management includes all physical measures designed to influence the movement of traffic on an existing network. It excludes substantial alterations to the network itself: such as the installation of roundabouts and flyovers; it also excludes measures like taxation and licensing, which directly affect the volume of traffic or the type of vehicles used (Thompson, 1968). Traffic Management: "It is that aspect of management which deals with the planning, organizing, coordinating and regulating traffic operations, tools and methods so as to ensure safe, convenient and economic transportation of persons and goods" (Rajagopalan, 2013).

According to the Handbook of Road Safety Measures, "A road safety measure is any technical device or programme that has improving road safety as the only objective or at least one of its stated objectives. Road safety measures may be directly at any element of the road system: patterns of land use, the road itself, road furniture, traffic control devices, motor vehicles, police enforcement and road users and their behavior! Improving road safety is, unfortunately, not a concept that has a standard scientific definition" (Rune Elvik, 2009). The growing prosperity India has been witnessing is coupled with the emergence in the need and importance of traffic management and road accidents. With the rapid increase in the volume of cars and the soaring population, road traffic (which includes pedestrians and vehicles) management has become a major challenge for the authorities (Amit, 2013).

The existence of a monitoring system serves as one fundamental condition tor the efficient functioning of traffic legal and enforcement system which allows the continual adjustment of legal strategies and provisions for attaining an increase in the level of safety on roads. For example: if the traffic police find a relevant increase of youngsters that drink and drive, this should lead to an increment in the penalties, more roadside stops and special prevention campaigns (Directorate-General Energy and Transport, European Commission, 2010). Traffic jams not only create unpleasantness for the driver to commute but also increases the journey time due to the poor speed of auto vehicles on the road. Cars move bumper-to­bumper while 2-wheelers try to find their way out, which causes road nuisance. Traffic and road accidents pose a threat to man's life and are hence also a subject of public health issue (Supekar, 2008).

The traffic management should focus on judicious use of existing infrastructure and fair allocation of infrastructural space (like road space and parking, should be independent) among competing users; direct the pollution check and economic and cost effective automatic signals and system of traffic lights for achieving environmental goals; ensure safe and reliable operation of vehicles especially public transport (Directorate-General Energy and Transport, European Commission, 2009). In India on an average about 56 accidents take place and every hour 16 lives are lost according to an analysis of road accident data of 2015 A very high percentage of road accident victims are in the age group of 15 to 35 years which account for 53.8 per cent of all persons killed in road accidents during 2015 which may be because of the weak risk averseness of youths (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Transport Research Wing, 2016). There is a dual loss associated with this wherein highly productive manpower (or man-days) is lost accompanied by the expenses incurred in the treatment of these victims.

In India, 69% of the total number of motor vehicles is motorized two-wheelers. Laws making helmet use compulsory are important in increasing the wearing o 'helmets, especially in low­income and middle-income countries where helmet-wearing rates are low, and where there are large numbers of users of motorized two-wheelers (Jayadevan Sreedharan, 2010). Traffic junctions are accident prone areas in general as suggested by evidence with about 57 per cent of the total accidents occurring at these junctions in 2015. It was observed that a maximum number of accidents occurred at uncontrolled areas with a share of 76.4 per cent in total road accidents on examination of accidents at traffic or police-controlled areas and uncontrolled (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Transport Research Wing, 2016). Hence, effective traffic management is the major key to reducing the number of road accidents in any given city.

In light of these findings, there lies the need of the hour for research in the field of traffic management and road safety so as to make Pune a smart city. The aim of the research ought to be to find innovative solutions to curb traffic congestion and prevent traffic fatalities along with serious injuries. The forthcoming tables enlist cases of how various cities/countries have dealt with the issue of traffic congestion and road accidents with the help of:

• public policy implementation and law enforcement,
• technology and innovation-based solutions,
• a mix of all of the above

Cities/Countries using Public Policy Implementation and Law Enforcement to Alleviate Traffic and Road Accidents The key strategist of the Sweden's Vision Zero policy, Matts-Ake Belin, holds the position of a traffic safety strategist with the Swedish Transport Administration. The journal article "Vision Zero - a road safety policy innovation", co-authored by Matts-Ake Belin, suggests that road safety is no accidents. Vision Zero policy, unlike the previous traditional policies, focused on adapting the road transport system to the individual and his/her capacities and not vice versa through its innovative scientific foundation. The article mentions that the Government's proposal did not make any attempts at eliminating all accidents, and instead had a public health perspective; wherein accidents resulting in property damage or minor personal injuries were acceptable but fatalities and seric.us injuries weren't.

The article examines that though this policy was founded in plausible ethical principles, a political process was into picture wherein there was a mutual understanding between the Government and Parliamentary Traffic Committee of Sweden to achieve the respective aim. Since the studies show that deficiencies in the traffic environment and vehicle system are the main 61 cause of approximately 63 per cent of deaths, hence the article suggests that a road and vehicle design that improvises upon the tolerability of human beings towards external violence could avoid those 63 per cent deaths (Matts-Ake Belin, 2012). The Economist's article by S.N., "Why Sweden has so few road deaths", rightfully supports the journal article "Vision Zero - a road safety policy innovation" by justifying the success of Vision Zero public policy in Sweden. S.N. deduces that the Sweden's deaths reduced by half since 2000, it is well on its way in achieving the "zero" target, with the help of appropriate planning and building of roads with priority to safety over speed. or convenience. The author suggests that in the future, so as to eliminate human error, driverless cars may become the safest mode of transport. Thus, the article draws attention towards the scope for further research in the field of driverless cars (S.N., 2014).

The IATSS research paper on Bangkok traffic talks about the main traffic and congestion problems. It talks about the need to build more and more roads that can act as alternative solutions. It states the inefficiency in the traffic control system and some solutions to overcome it. The solution includes implementation of new mass transit system having mini buses that provide supplementary services to people and improving the image of BMT A buses (TANABORIBOON, 1993). Jon fern quest article published on 1st October 2015 focuses on coming up with development plans that focus on improving public transport and bicycle lanes. It talks about the problem of more cars than people on the road leading to unnecessary pollution and traffic congestion. The objective is to reduce the number of cars and discourage drivers from using their cars by charging high parking fees and banning new car purchases (Fernquest, 2015).

The news article "Gujarat govt nod for traffic police stations, first 14 in Ahmedabad", was published with the aim of bringing to the general public's information, the state government's plan to establish 14 traffic police stations within Ahmedabad as the part of the first phase of the government's plan to establish traffic police stations all over the state of Gujarat. The objective of this plan was to decrease the number of traffic accidents happening within the state of Gujarat and to decrease the number of road law offenders within the state, especially within densely populated urban areas. Through the methods of observational analysis and statistical analysis, the authorities implemented a plan to increase road safety and to increase awareness about the dangers of not driving safely. As a result of the implementation of this plan, Ahmedabad experienced swifter and increasingly efficient movement of traffic through urban areas.

There was also an increase in the efficiency of the regulating actions taken by the authorities (The Indian Express, 2015). Hence, Sweden, Bangkok, and Ahmedabad have focused upon public policy implementation and law enforcement as key strategies to alleviate traffic congestion and road accidents (and fatalities). Cities/Countries using Technology and Innovation for Traffic Management and Road Safety The research "BTRAC: 20 I 0 Bangalore City Traffic Management System" undertaken by the Government Knowledge Centre was in full support ofB-TRAC 2010 and believes that it is a commendable system of traffic control and management. It recommends other metropolitan cities to undertake such projects to reduce traffic congestion and to ensure road safety.

This study is criticized on the basis of subjective bias as only the IGP was interviewed (Centre, 2012). In order to curb traffic and reduce the number of road accidents, the Bangalore Traffic Improvement Project (B-TRAC) was initiated. The objective of the "B-TRAC Evaluation ant! Impact Study" was to analyse and evaluate the impact of B-TRAC project in Bengaluru. The results of the study concluded that although 500 junction improvements were proposed only 45 of these were met. The plan succeeded in helping the traffic police with cameras and smartphones that helped in catching traffic violators. The study proposes that the funding of Rs. 352.12 crores should be released entirely so that the whole project can be completed in a structured manner. Other suggestions also included better r~ad signals and markings. Medians were not visible at night and hence, reflective medians with eat's eye could be installed so that the medians are visible at night (Science, 2012).